Photomone

Photomone is a simple, fun, fast party game about communicating words by drawing. But you’re ants and can only draw by leaving a pheromone trail.

It’s one of my One Paper Games. The map is a paper randomly filled with dots. You can only draw using straight lines between two dots, and each word has a maximum number of lines. In other words, it’s your job to somehow communicate “robot” to the other players with 12 straight lines ;)

What’s special?

The core idea—draw by connecting dots on a board with straight lines—is extremely simple, yet works wonderfully. It’s not that “special”, however, as it’s basically a gamified version of “connect the dots”. (Unsurprisingly, I got this idea when I saw somebody play a similar game.)

What does make this project special?

• The addition of some smart rules and special dots (that activate some cool powerup when used).
• The fact that you can play in three different ways: using just one paper, using traditional material (cards with secret words to hold in your hand), or using a single smartphone (where the website gives you your secret word)
• The idea was so potent that this game immediately received two spin-offs! Check out Photomone: Digital Antists and Photomone: Antsassins. The first one is basically a video game, the second one is a variation on the idea of the popular boardgame “Codenames”.